Lionsgate and Blumhouse have made an exciting announcement at CinemaCon - they will be joining forces to produce a new The Blair Witch Project movie as part of a multi-picture deal with Blumhouse. The pact will re-imagine horror classics from the Lionsgate library. The announcement was made by Adam Fogelson, Chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Jason Blum, Founder and CEO of Blumhouse.
Blumhouse is widely recognized as the gold standard in the horror genre, having generated blockbuster results from a string of modestly-budgeted films, including the Paranormal Activity franchise, Insidious, The Purge, Sinister, Halloween, Five Nights at Freddy’s and M3GAN, along with award winners Get Out and BlacKkKlansman. With nearly $6 billion in worldwide box office grosses, Blumhouse is a force to be reckoned with.
For the new Blair Witch Project movie, Blum will be teaming up with producer Roy Lee, who previously produced the 2016 film Blair Witch, the most recent installment in the franchise. Fogelson expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, saying, "There is no one better at this genre than the team at Blumhouse. We are thrilled to kick this partnership off with a new vision for Blair Witch that will reintroduce this horror classic for a new generation."
Blum himself has been a big fan of The Blair Witch Project for many years, commenting, "I’m a huge admirer of The Blair Witch Project, which brought the idea of found footage horror to mainstream audiences and became a true cultural phenomenon. I don’t think there would have been a Paranormal Activity had there not first been a Blair Witch, so this feels like a truly special opportunity, and I’m excited to see where it leads."
The Blair Witch Project, which was created by filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, is widely regarded as a found footage masterpiece. It changed the horror game back in 1999, subsequently spawning its own sprawling universe of media, including official follow-up films in 2000 and 2016, as well as multiple books and video games that have deepened the lore. This exciting new partnership between Lionsgate and Blumhouse promises to keep the legacy of this iconic horror franchise alive for many years to come.